Sealing strip for sliding doors



M y 28 1951. F. D. mm 2,193,405.

SEALING STRIP FOR SLIDING DOORS Filed May 26, 1954 INVENTOR FIG.4

United States Patent SEALING STRIP FOR SLIDING DOORS Fred D. Focht, Johnson City, N. Y.

Application May 26, 1954, Serial No. 432,424

' 2 Claims. on. 20-69) This invention relates to a sealing strip for sliding doors.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel sealing strip adapted to be mounted on the vertical edge of a sliding door and having a blade in sliding sealing engagement with the planar surface of another sliding door so as to seal the space between the two doorsand thereby prevent dust, insects, and outside air from entering through said space.

Another object is to provide a sealing strip of the character described and comprising an integral longitudinal sealing strip of resilient flexible material, said strip comprising in transverse section a U-shaped portion including a pair of spaced parallel flange sections joined to an intermediate web section extending transversely therebetween, and a blade portion integral with one of said flange sections and extending outwardly therefrom approximately perpendicular thereto.

Still another object is to provide a sealing strip of the character described in combination with a pair of glass doors, means mounting the doors for relative sliding movement to cause the vertical edge of one door to move over and adjacent the planar surface of the other door, and a sealing means for said doors and comprising a longitudinal vertical element of U-shape in cross-section and fitted over said door vertical edge, and a longitudinal vertical blade element secured to said U-shaped .element along the length of the latter and projecting horizontally outwardly therefrom to engage said door planar surface, said U-shaped portion resiliently receiving and engaging said door vertical edge, said blade portion engaging said door planar surface and forming a weatherseal between the doors.

A further object is to provide a sealing strip of the character described which is durable, inexpensive, easily mounted on an existing sliding door, and highly effective in use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention are inherent in the structure as claimed and disclosed or will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the detailed description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevati'onal view of a sliding door arrangement with which the sealing strip of the present invention may be employed;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the sealing strip;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 33 of Fig. 1 and shows the sealing strip mounted on the vertical edge of one of the sliding doors; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1 and shows the arrangement for slidably mounting the doors.

Referring now to the drawings in more detail, and in particular to Fig. 2 thereof, the sealing strip in accordance with the present invention is indicated generally by the reference numeral 11 and is in the form of a single longitudinal integral strip composed of resilient flexible material such as grey rubber. The sealing strip 11 comprises a U-shaped portion 12 integral with a blade portion 13.

' The U-shaped portion 12 comprises in transverse crossend portion 18 having lateral sides which are slightly tapered so as to converge in the outward direction. By thus reducing the thickness of blade portion 13, the latter is rendered more flexible, for the purpose to be described below.

Referring now to Figs. 1, 3 and 4, the reference numeral 19 indicates generally a sliding door arrangement comprising a frame 20 having a pair of vertical frame members 21, 22 connected at their lower ends to a horizontal frame member 23 extending therebetween. The upper ends of vertical frame members 21, 22 are joined to an upper horizontal frame member 24 in any conventional manner. The lower frame member 23 is provided with a pair of longitudinally extending spaced parallel grooves 25, 26 extending downwardly from the upper surface 27 thereof.

A pair of sliding doors 28, 29 of any conventional construction but preferably of glass, are provided with their lower edges slidably mounted within the grooves 25, 26. The upper horizontal frame member 24 may also be provided with a pair of grooves (not shown) similar to grooves 25, 26, for slidably mounting the upper edges of doors 28, 29 in a similar manner as illustrated with respect to the lower edges thereof.

The vertical frame members 21, 22 are provided with a vertical groove indicated at 31 and 31, respectively, for receiving the outer lateral vertical edges of the doors 28, 29 when the latter are in the closed position as shown in Fig. 3. It will be understood that grooves 25 and 30 are in a common vertical plane with one of the grooves (not shown) in the upper frame member 24, the other groove in said upper frame member 24 being in a common vertical plane with the grooves 26, 31.

It will be seen in Fig. 3 that the adjacent oppositely facing planar surfaces 32, 33 of the doors 28, 29 respectively, are spaced from each other to provide an opening or space 34 therebetween. Either one of the inner edges 35, 36 of the doors 28, 29 may have the sealing strip 11 mounted thereon, or if desired, a pair of sealing strips 11 may be mounted on both edges 35, 36. For purposes of illustration, the sealing strip 11 is shown mounted on the inner edge 36 of the door 29, with the edge 36 received within the U-shaped portion 12. Since the material of sealing strip 11 is resilient and flexible, the flange sections 15, 16 will resiliently engage the opposite planar surfaces 33, 37 of door 29 adjacent the inner edge 36 of the latter, and the inner edge 36 may abut against the intermediate web section 14 of sealing strip 11.

When the sealing strip 11 is thus mounted on the inner edge 36 of door 29, the blade portion 13 will engage the planar surface 32 of the other door 28 and will be flexed backwardly and toward flange section 16 in the manner shown in Fig. 3. The reduced end portion 18 of blade portion 13 is thus in slidable contacting engagement with the door surface 32 and moves therealong in the manner of a windshield wiper so as to close off the space 34 between doors 28, 29 from the interior of the building, thereby preventing dust, insects, and hot or cold air from entering the building.

The glass doors 28, 29 are generally approximately A inch thick. The flange sections 15, 16 and web section 14 of the U-shaped portion 12 are preferably about V Patented May 28, 1957 inch thick. The blade portion 13 is preferably approximately inch in length.

The interior surfaces 14a, 15a, 16a of web section 14 and flange sections 15, 16 are preferably serrated or otherwise roughened to provide a plurality of small projections thereon. This enhancesthe gripping effect of the strip on the edge of the glass door on which it is mounted and generally obviates the necessity for securing the strip to the door by cement or other securing means. However, for some conditions of use it may be desirable to employ cement in conjunction with the rough surfaces 14a, 15a, 16a or to make the latter smooth and rely solely on the cement to maintain the strip in fixed assembled relation on the edge of the glass door.

It is to be understood. that the specific embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing and described above is merely illustrative of one of the many forms which the invention may take in practice without departing from the scope thereof as delineated in the appended claims and hence the claims are to be interpreted as broadly as possible in view of the prior art and are not to be unduly limited by said disclosure.

Having thus described the invention in some detail, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A scaling strip for sliding glass doors comprising a unitary, integral U-shaped channel member of flexible resilient material adapted to grippingly embrace the margin of a glass door, and an integral resilient flexible blade member projecting transversely from one of the flanges of said channel member intermediate of the width thereof and extending longitudinally thereof, said blade member having a relatively thick portion adjacent to the base thereof joining said flange member, and a thin tapering portion for a substantial Width thereof adjacent to the outer marginal edge thereof adapted to flex and yieldingly engage the surface of an adjacent glass door.

2. A sealing strip for sliding glass doors as defined in claim 1, wherein the interior surfaces of the channel member are serrated throughout their extent to facilitate their gripping action.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,226,159 Allmand May 15, 1917 2,274,730 Owen Mar. 3, 1942 2,606,635 Clingman Aug. 12, 1952 2,667,951 Gall Feb. 2, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 221,288 Great Britain Sept. 11, 1924 486,935 Germany Nov. 27, 1927 

